


Afterwards

by klaviergavout



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: Gen, VQ spoilers if you haven't listened to it, like literally right after they get home, sad sad spine, takes place soon after VQ
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-28
Updated: 2015-11-28
Packaged: 2018-05-03 19:27:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5303801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klaviergavout/pseuds/klaviergavout
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The robots get home to Walter Manor after a long period of time up in space, and decide to spend some time alone. Rabbit goes to the cemetery; Hatchworth explores the Manor; and The Spine holes himself up in the Hall of Wires, and talks to those who are long gone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Afterwards

Everything was okay, now. They had saved the Green Apple from ruin, and, to an extent, the rest of the galaxy. They had led a scared little satellite to love and to hope and to happiness. They had proven themselves not only to the formidable opponent that had been the Space Giant, but to all the others back home as well. And with the relieving news of the Astronaut's passing, and yet another Walter managing to make his family proud, the robot band could finally rest assured that their job, at least, was done.

It had been a long, exhausting, and thoroughly memorable journey, and so it was quickly agreed between the three that they should take some time apart to recover.   
  
Hatchworth walked the Manor, socialising with the workers and the humans as he passed, exploring the one place he could call home again in awe and wonder as if it were the very first time he left the vault. Rabbit sat on her favourite bench in the Walter Cemetery, wiggling her toes, letting the ducks approach her as they always did for little smidgens of bread. And it would have come as no surprise to any of the others that The Spine, after seeing to it that they were settled and calm, made his way towards the Hall of Wires and locked the door behind him.

Surveying his surroundings, he gave a weak smile. He knew this place. Wires of many colours and lengths littered the ceiling and walls, connecting power sources and monitors and electronic devices; it was a hub, a network, an assembly, that was suspended above and around him. And he knew it, oh god, he  _knew_ it. He knew every wire and every chain and every panel, and sometimes he would run his hands along the side of the room and brush the tips of his fingers on the cold steel, and sometimes- just for a moment- he would no longer regret being built to  _feel._

It was where he felt safe, secure, protected from the improbability of a human world. It had been clear for a long while that he had a desire to live like them, those of skin and bone and blood- but here, surrounded by metal and wire and code, it felt so much more familiar. Those human ideals were very easily quenched once he was immersed in a room of technology, and it filled him with a great sense of calm. Sometimes while in the Hall of Wires he wished he could just fall asleep, and wake up to the crackling of electricity, the staccato of beeps, that he knew so well. But he couldn't; because sleep was something only humanity could achieve.  
  
Today, he sat down, his back to the wall, holding his knees. 

He tapped into the WiFi, searching for two signals that never came back.

And he began to speak.

"I don't know if you can hear me," he began, "but I'm going to tell you  anyways. Me, Rabbit and Hatchworth went into space. It was a ride, let me tell you. We did all sorts of things there."  
  
The Spine laughed weakly at that. If he had been paying any attention to the workings of the Hall, he would have heard QWERTY start up, and his voice ring out.  _QWERTY online._ It was so commonplace to him that he didn't even notice.  
  
QWERTY kept silent, save from a small and constant hum that he couldn't control, and listened.  
  
"First off, some steam junk came back to Earth. A little satellite, it was. Went straight to Hatchworth and told him everything."  
  
The Spine held out his hands to about the width of W.I.N.K.   
  
"About this big. Eventually we got Peter Six to make him into a rocketship, and then we went in the rocketship to defeat the Space Giant. Or at least talk through its other options."   
  
He paused, as if someone had said something in reply, and chuckled under his breath.  
  
"Yeah, we're onto _six_  Peter Walters now. They just keep on coming, huh?"  
  
Another pause, a look at the floor, and The Spine was content with carrying on.  
  
"We went into space and found the Giant. It was really big and really horrifying. A dark blue, with terrible eyes and little arms, taking bites out of a planet." He shivered. "It challenged us to a duel, would you believe it. A duel!"  
  
No one registered their surprise.  
  
"All we had to do to defeat the Space Giant and save the galaxy was to play some music. I guess that's what we're best at, after all, right?"  
  
The Spine fell silent- this time, a look of guilt flashed in his eyes. He hugged his knees tighter and hung his head.  
  
"I'm sorry you couldn't come with us. Both of you."  
  
He felt oily tears prick at the corners of his eyes.  
  
"This isn't really related to space at all, but..." The Spine took a shaky breath. "I don't know if anyone else even remembers you any more. I don't even know if you can hear what I'm telling you. This is probably pointless. Pointless." Some tears began to fall, slowly sliding down metal cheeks.   
  
It was quiet again, for a while.  
  
_"THE SPINE."_  QWERTY decided that this was the best time to intervene.  _"IF THEY COULD SEE YOU IN THIS STATE, WHAT WOULD HAPPEN? THEY'D WORRY AND FRET AND TRY TO COMFORT YOU. LISTEN TO ME. THEY CAN'T HEAR YOU. THERE IS NO USE LYING TO YOURSELF. BUT IF THEY COULD, THEY WOULD DO ANYTHING TO MAKE YOU HAPPY AGAIN."_  
  
The Spine looked up from his knees, surprised, to see QWERTY staring back at him, the look of pity obvious even on a computerised face.   
  
Scrunching up his eyes, his hand over his mouth, he tried to block out the memories that were all so suddenly flooding back, but he couldn't.  
  
And he wept.  
  
"I just want them to come back," he said, choking back his tears.  
  
_"I KNOW."_


End file.
